


Clawing at It

by GeekyIdiotCas



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Arc Reactor, Bruce Banner Feels, Bruce Banner Is a Good Bro, Bruce Banner Needs a Hug, Gen, Hurt Tony, Natasha Romanov Is Not A Robot, Natasha Romanov Is a Good Bro, Oblivious Clint Barton, Protective Hulk, Steve Rogers is not a good bro, Suicide Attempt, Suspicious Natasha Romanov, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, not wanda maximoff friendly
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-24
Updated: 2018-02-24
Packaged: 2019-03-23 14:30:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,282
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13789689
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GeekyIdiotCas/pseuds/GeekyIdiotCas
Summary: He couldn’t handle it anymore. Those glances. Those stares. The camera flashes. The day by day battles. It hurt, and nobody knew.





	Clawing at It

He couldn’t handle it anymore. Those glances. Those stares. The camera flashes. The day by day battles. It hurt, and nobody knew.

Pepper had left him.

Rhodey was in a different country.

Bruce was… somewhere.

The _others_ were just up a couple floors. Laughing. Enjoying themselves. Unknown to the pain of their teammate.

Not only that, but that… that _witch_ was with them. Like she hadn’t mindraped him and had a helping hand in destroying Tony’s baby boy, Tony’s JARVIS. Like she hadn’t driven Bruce away and killed multiple people in the process.

DUM-E, U, and Butterfingers crooned at Tony in worry, and Tony gave them a small smile. They’d be in good hands once Rhodey returned. Rhodey was a good uncle, he’d be able to take care of them. He helped take care of them during his 3 month vacation in Afghanistan. Patting each of them on one of their touch sensors, Tony folded his letter and looked at himself in a holographic mirror.

He was paler than usual. The dark bags and circles under his eyes were darker and heavier after many nights of no sleep due to returning nightmares. His hair was greasier than usual as well. Looking down at his chest, he found the Arc Reactor sitting there, glowing as if nothing in the world was wrong. A dark looked crossed Tony’s face as he reached up and began to claw at it.

In an instant, his mind went blank and he went into a frenzy, clawing at the bright blue circle in his chest. Finally, he had found the release mechanism and tore the reactor out of his chest, throwing at the wall in the lab and watched as it broke.

He fell down onto the floor with a silent thud. Vision going black, he allowed himself to be taken by the darkness.

\----

Bruce shifted nervously outside of the compound. He wasn’t sure what he would see once he entered, but he needed to get to Tony. He needed to tell the engineer something important and apologize for leaving. Taking a deep breath, he straightened his posture and entered the compound. FRIDAY greeted him, but her voice was off. He brushed it off and walked in the elevator and was taking to the community floor where everyone else was. When he walked into the room, heads spun around. There were cries of ‘Bruce!’ but he didn’t listen. Instead, he was searching for the familiar brunet.

“Anyone know where Tony is?” Bruce asked, his voice slightly growing worried. The witch(“BAD WITCH, MUST SMASH!” Hulk thundered in the back of his mind.) snorted as she looked up at Bruce.

“I don’t know where Stark has hidden himself, why don’t you ask his oh so wonderful AI?” She sneered and Clint gently reprimanded her. The others didn’t look worried and Bruce had to admit, Tony did disappear quite a bit, but something was wrong. This didn’t feel right.

“FRIDAY?” Bruce asked, hoping that his gut was wrong for once.

“Boss was last seen heading down to the labs. But he shut me out, I can’t see or hear anything coming from where he went.” The AI responded and Bruce stiffened. Tony wouldn’t do something like that, at most he’d probably mute her, not lock her out.

“FRIDAY, take me down, NOW.” Bruce ordered as he ran back into the elevator, the others sharing a confused look. The AI moved the elevator as quickly as she could, and once they got to the floor that the labs were on, Bruce ran out and into his lab. There, on the floor, was Tony Stark. His Arc Reactor was removed from his chest and broken on the floor by a wall. The bots were whirling around in chaos as their creator lay on the floor dying. DUM-E seemed to notice Bruce and quickly whirled over to him, new Arc Reactor in his claw. Bruce then yelled his access code and allowed FRIDAY into the room. “How long?” He asked as he kneeled down by the genius.

“Approximately 7 minutes.” She responded. Bruce swore silently and turned Tony upward, revealing the Arc Reactor casing. Quickly he placed the new one in and twisted it in, making sure it connected properly. After installing it, Bruce quickly checked for a pulse, letting out a relieved breath when he felt a weak, but still there pulse.

“Oh my god Tony… I’m so sorry…” Bruce felt tears begin to prick at the edges of his eyes as he leaned against the nearby table. The bots were now calming down themselves as U handed Bruce a neatly folded piece of paper. Taking it, Bruce opened it and the tears poured out when he realized that it was Tony’s will. In it, it stated that Pepper would get the company and 25% of his money, Rhodey would get the Iron Man suits and another 25% of Tony’s money, the Avengers would get the compound, and 25% of his money would be donated to charity. Bruce himself would be getting all of Tony’s R&D labs and the final 25% of money. Not only that, but Bruce, Pepper, and Rhodey would get shared ownership of the Maria Stark Foundation and the Ho Yinsen Foundations and their own AI’s named TONY(for Pepper), TONES(for Rhodey), and ANTHONY(for Bruce). Closing the paper, Bruce looked at Tony again and felt fresh tears willing to fall. But they stopped once they saw Tony let out a low groan and his body flinch. Tony’s eyes opened wearily and Bruce quickly wiped the tears away, quickly moving to his friend’s side(“Tin man hurt. Puny Banner help Tin man. Hulk comfort!” Bruce couldn’t help but smile at that little thought from the Hulk.).

“Ugh… What happened…” Tony tried to sit up, but Bruce placed a hand on his chest, right above the reactor.

“Ah, no. You won’t be sitting up just yet.” Bruce said, his voice even. Tony’s eyes widened as he went exactly against Bruce’s orders and stared at the other man. Tony briefly winced in pain, but ignored it in favor of staring at Bruce.

“B-Brucie-bear..?” He croaked out and Bruce smiled at him. In an instant Bruce had an armful of Tony, who clung to his neck. “Where have you been?” Tony asked quietly and Bruce indulged.

“Small city in New Mexico.”

“I missed you.”

“I missed you too.”

“Why did you come back?”

“I felt that it was time.” Before Tony could ask another question, Bruce shushed him. “Why?” Was all he asked next and Tony went rigid in his arms.

“I couldn’t handle it anymore… It’s gotten to be too much..” Tony whispered, his voice slightly cracking.

“Well I’m here now. I’ll help you.” Bruce began to brush his fingers through Tony’s hair, ignoring the instinct to pull away. “Also, you need a shower.”

“Shut up.” Bruce smiled and he felt the engineer smile against his shoulder. They had eachother now, and nothing could separate them. The Hulk rumbled in the back of Bruce’s mind, content that Tony was alive. They might not be okay, but they’ll get through it.

Bruce closed his eyes as he pulled Tony a little closer. Tony ordered FRIDAY to lock the lab as they just sat there and held each other.

“Science bros?” Tony quietly asked, as if he was still unsure Bruce would stay.

“Definitely. Science bros for life.” Bruce mumbled as he felt the adrenaline leave his body and tiredness spread across.

He fell asleep, the feeling on Tony’s heartbeat on his chest.  
Tony fell asleep, the feeling of safe arms around him.

They’d make it, he’d make sure of that.

**Author's Note:**

> There will be a part two hopefully soon of the others finding out about this little... incident.
> 
> Also, I have a tumblr! So if you want to see more or send me headcannons you'd like for me to write just tell me! Tumblr: geekyidiotcassy
> 
> Leave a comment if you have an idea for how the others should react. I currently am trying to figure that out, and if the tags actually mean something, then it'd probably be something around there...


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